Las Cruces family claims relative taken into custody during alleged ICE raid

Members of the NM Comunidades en Accion y de Fe organization gathered outside the courthouse to demand that ICE cease its raids in their community.

Sara Silva with the organization said the protest wasn’t planned.

“We heard about a number of ICE raids were happening in Dona Ana County," said Silva.

Silva said the organization was trying to find people but couldn’t locate people detained in the alleged raid.

A family in Doña Ana County is waiting to hear from a relative who was allegedly arrested by ICE agents.

KFOX14 spoke with the family who said ICE agents took their relatives into custody.

The family, which did not want to be identified, said agents were searching for a suspect along Dona Ana County Road early Wednesday morning, but instead took their relatives instead.

An immigration attorney representing the family making the allegation said the family told ICE agents they didn’t have any ties to the person agents were looking for.

The family told its attorney Imelda Maynard that federal agents asked for legal documentation to live in the United States.

Maynard who is an attorney for Catholic Charities of Southern New Mexico told KFOX14 that two of the people in the home did have documentation, but one did not.

That person was allegedly detained.

Maynard said the family is concerned about its missing relative.

KFOX14 asked Leticia Zamarripa with the Department of Homeland Security about the alleged Wednesday raids. She sent the following statement.

ICE regularly conducts targeted enforcement operations during which additional resources and personnel are dedicated to apprehending deportable foreign nationals. All enforcement activities are conducted with the same level of professionalism and respect that ICE officers exhibit every day. The focus of these targeted enforcement operations is consistent with the routine, targeted arrests carried out by ICE’s Fugitive Operations Teams on a daily basis. ICE will not confirm an operation prior to its completion, nor will ICE speculate on future operational activities.